NEW YORK -- Venezuela reached deep into its pockets Thursday and issued some of its costliest-ever global bonds, a measure of the country's worsening economic problems and investors' bearish view of emerging markets.

The $500 million in 20-year, dollar-denominated bonds bear an interest rate of 8.24 percentage points over comparable U.S. Treasury issues, yielding 13.98%, in a sale managed by J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. By contrast, Venezuela sold 30-year bonds in September at 3.25 percentage points over Treasurys, yielding...